On Friday, Nic Dougall of the World Cycling Centre Africa MTN Qhubeka Feeder Team repeated his 2013 victory of the Bestmed Tour de Boland against a much stronger field than the previous year. Dougall, who had won the 18km opening time trial from the Berg River Dam to Helshoogte in convincing fashion, finished the stage in 7th place, 24 seconds down on stage winner Darren Lill (Team Cannondale Blend). The performance secured Dougall the victory over fellow World Cycling Centre Trainee, Till Drobisch of Namibia by 45 seconds. Drobisch also finished in second place at the Tour de Boland in 2013.

Dougall gave credit to his team after the race, saying that his team mates ensured that he never missed a crucial move and they kept him safe in the peloton throughout the duration of the race. According to Dougall, the final 20km approach to the Franschhoek Pass was particularly nervous in the peloton. Songo.info/Specialized was keeping the pace really high to set things up for World Marathon Mountain Bike Champ Christophe Sauser. A number of other riders were trying to get to the front of the peloton too so it was quite a fight. “Meron and Oliver delivered me perfectly to the front at bottom of the climb” said Dougall.

Besides the general classification, The World Cycling Centre Africa MTN Qhubeka Feeder Team finished the tour with two stage wins out of four and won the overall team classification. This was quite an achievement since the tour has been labelled the hardest tour with the strongest field on Western Cape roads since the Giro del Capo of old.

Though not lacking excitement, the team’s performance had been almost clinical as they took everything that their competitors and the Boland region’s roads could throw at them. The tour will be remembered particularly for a windy stage 3, where Dougall and his team mates split the peloton and opened a gap in excess of 7 minutes on the main peloton containing pre-race favourites such as Sauser and Lill.

The WCCA MTN Qhubeka Feeder Team will take great confidence from the victory ahead of Sunday’s Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay Momentum Cycle Tour.